In this podcast, we’re re-capping the delightful victory over Arizona. Pre-capping a scary battle with the scariest Stanford team in recent memory. Talking Rose Bowl scenarios for almost everyone except Cal. (Of course.) We wonder why Cal can’t recruit a freakin’ kicker, praise the offensive line, unveil a new Secret Word (this week: it’s a concept!), Jason does yet another round of terrible Bill Walton impressions, and goes off the deep end to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of recent James Bond movies. What does that have to do with Cal football? Oh, right–nothing at all.

Thanks for the ‘cast, fellas. It went quite well with my surprisingly lean roast beef sandwich and Coke for lunch (whups! wrong one).

I’m still a bit worried about Stanfurd. It may be mostly the same team as last year, but the addition of Luck – and the subtraction of last year’s O-line – does give me pause. But if the defense shows up like last week, then I’d double down on the Bears. Of course, the offense will have to produce to make up for special teams still playing like crap(s).

And thanks for praising the O-line, too. Focusing on the “skill players” (boo that term) does seem to be a problem even for people who analyze the sport for a living. I was weirdly proud when my girlfriend defended Riley earlier this year (on one particular play) and pointed out that it was the offensive line folding that was the issue.

And the Bill Walton has started to sound like he needs medical attention . . .

In order to regain my first down, I will say that the Defense was on fire vs Arizona this past Saturday. I thought it was great to see the Seniors on Defense just bring it and give it all they got and leave it on Memorial Stadium for the last time in their college careers. I especially wanted to point out the fact that Tyson Alualu was tremendously pumped up on one of his tackles and I believe the announcer gave the tackle to Mohamed or Cattouse… don’t quite remember, but as Alualu headed to the sideline after that play, he was completely pumped up and the team was just as hyped.

I also saw a bit of emotion of Tedford, I believe giving Tucker a “High-Five” or some sort of hand shake on the sideline after one of his catches. Good to see that he his giving some props to the Senior WR.

As for Riley, I do believe he was trying to fit the ball into the TE on that INT, if he was going to throw it away (even at that awkward angle, off one foot) he could’ve at least threw the ball must close than just lofting it up in the air? I guess in his defense he “didn’t see anyone down the middle of the field” and the Safety/Corners broke out of coverage to get the INT. Still from 2007 Oregon St game, I believe Riley does have confidence issues, he plays very well at the beginning of games and when something bad happens (ie INT, Fumble, 3 & outs), he just loses confidence and plays horribly for the rest of the game… (just my opinion)

Last thought – I for one am very excited about the Nevada game, I have some friends whom have graduated from UNR and am already trying to plan my trip up there for that game next season. Maybe hit the Pai-gow Poker tables along the way. Regardless, 52,000 Strong +/- the bandwagon, I think we looked like the bears we are used to seeing and hopefully it can carry over to the final 2 games of the season.

What bowl do you guys think we will end up at if you had to make a projection today? I’m hoping for a few nights in Vegas or San Diego…

Dig these podcasts. Keep up the good work! Will you guys be doing them during basketball season?

If I had to GAMBLE on this game, I’d BET on the Bears and take the points. The bad Rose Bowl JuJu will not be denied. This year, every team that starts thinking they will go, ends up losing the next game.

Note: ‘Valenyal’ is my actual name translated into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Quenya (Elvish). Got it during a DeCal class my sophomore year. I’d bet you didn’t see that one coming.

My friends and I were/are ardent Longshore supporters throughout the years, and when it got to the point where he didn’t get QB playing time, we would cheer about how awesome he was at holding the ball for extra points and field goals. GUESS WHO WE MISS NOW GUYS.

In other news, I’ll make the same guess as 2 weeks ago and say if we want to beat Stanford, it’ll probably be in a shoot-out style match. (Notice our lack of shooting vs. Oregon State, and the subsequent outcome). Tedford and Ludwig can’t play conservative at this point, even if it’s not the last game or a bowl game. Good point about our offense stagnating vs. Arizona… They MUST go all in with their playcalls. We know Tedford has the tricks, and is probably holding on to some magical set of pocket aces or something, but he MUST MUST MUST throw them out for all to see.

At least somebody *spells* Pie-gow in this thread so I can look it up.

That said, Big Game’s here. Time to spin the roulette wheel and hope it ends up on blue. (What, roulette wheels don’t have blue? They should.)

The last time we played Nevada was my freshman year — 1996. That’s the game where I learned that if you block an extra point try and return it all the way back to the other endzone, you get two points. Cal football is educational!

What I said on Twitter: “Microfiber: a blanket for computers?” (Yeah, I know, it’s a fabric used in jackets and stuff, but I was trying to be funny.)

It’ll be interesting to see what bowl game we get into, I think that there is a good chance that we will end up in the Las Vegas Bowl.

If we do go to the Vegas Bowl my advice is don’t bet on Cal or if you do have the inkling to bet on Cal don’t bet on them to cover the spread. In 2005 the spread for the Cal-BYU bowl game was 7.5 points and Cal won by only 7, thus it wasn’t nearly as enjoyable of a game for me as it could have been if Cal covered. My advice is stick to Craps or Pai Gow.